19. C. HIRSUTA (_Ruiz and Pavon_) N. Peru.

_Doubtful._ C. DISCOLOR (_Klotzsch_) N. Peru. C. PALALBA (_Pavon_) Peru. [26] M. Delondre decided that the fruit and flowers, though having a bitter principle, did not contain the alkaloids, while the roots contained them, though in smaller proportion than the bark of the trunk and branches. [27] Weddell. [28] Briquet, p. 22. [29] _Nueva Quinologia de Pavon_, No. 10. [30] _Aricine_, as a sulphate, does not crystallize, but forms a peculiar trembling jelly. It was so named from the port of Arica, whence the bark of _C. pubescens_ is exported. [31] Pereira says that, if a substance suspected to contain _quina_ be powdered, then shaken with ether, and afterwards successively treated with chlorine and ammonia, the liquid will assume a green colour if the slightest trace of quina be present.--_Mat. Med._ ii. part ii. p. 119. One or two pounds of bark suffice well for an analysis. [32] _Traité Thérapeutique du Quinquina et de ses préparations_, par P. Briquet, Paris, 1855. Also Pereira's _Materia Medica_. [33] The word _quinquina_ is generally adopted for the medical preparations which are taken from Peruvian bark. _Quina_ signifies _bark_ in Quichua, and _quinquina_ is a bark possessing some medicinal property. _Quinine_ is, of course, derived from _quina_, _chinchonine_ from _chinchona_. The Spaniards corrupted the word _quina_ into _china_; and in homœopathy the word _china_ is still retained. In 1735, when M. de la Condamine visited Peru, the native name of _quina-quina_ was almost entirely replaced by the Spanish term _cascarilla_, which also means bark. [34] _Autobiography of Sir James MacGrigor_, chap. xii. p. 241. [35] _Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales_, quoted by Delondre, p. 7. [36] _Aspects_, ii. p. 267. [37] _Semanario de la Nueva Granada._ [38] From Martius: a note in No. 1 of Howard's _Nueva Quinologia de Pavon_. [39] Some of these MSS. are, I believe, in possession of Don Pedro Carbo, of Guayaquil. [40] Spanish edition of General Miller's _Memoirs_, i. p. 42. [41] It is the form of _C. Condaminea_, represented in the unshaded branch with capsules, Plate x. of the _Plantes Equinoctiales_. [42] It comes in very small quills, as if taken from a mere shrub. [43] Besides _quinine_ several other febrifugal alkaloids are found in the chinchona barks, one of the most important of which is _chinchonidine_, discovered by Pasteur in 1852. [44] I found some very beautiful dried specimens of this species in the botanical gardens at Madrid last year. The lanceolate leaves and panicles of flowers still retained their colour. They were marked "_Cascarilla fina de Uritusinga de Loxa, Quin. de Pavon_." [45] Howard's _Nueva Quinologia de Pavon_. [46] _Howard_, from MS. of Ruiz. [47] Mr. Cross's _Report_, Nov. 1861. [48] Pereira, _Materia Medica_, ii. p. 106. [49] Afterwards published in a pamphlet of 57 pages, with plates. [50] In 1856 Mr. Howard shared Dr. Weddell's belief that the "red bark" belonged to a variety of _C. ovata_.--_Pharmaceutical Journal_, Oct. 1856. [51] Howard. [52] With "red bark" another kind, known as "West coast Carthagena," is exported from Guayaquil. The name is absurd. Mr. Howard believes it to be derived from the _C. Palton_ of Pavon, which is found in the woods of Cuenca, and in the province of Loxa. Samples of this bark yield 2.05 of alkaloids, 1.34 of chinchonidine, and 0.7 of quinine. [53] Alcedo. [54] Mutis was born at Cadiz in 1732. He resided in South America for forty years, and corresponded with Linnæus. Dying in 1808, the greater portion of his papers was destroyed in the revolution at Bogota; but a part of his collection of dried plants is now in the botanical gardens at Madrid, in a disgraceful state of disorder. [55] In 1776 Don Sebastian José Lopez Ruiz, a physician at Bogota, persuaded the Spanish government that he was the first discoverer of chinchona-trees in New Granada, and obtained a yearly pension of 2000 dollars as a reward; but he was afterwards considered to be an impostor, and the viceroy deprived him of it. [56] The pupil and fellow-workman of Mutis, from whose notes he wrote. [57] _Anales de la Historia Natural de Madrid_, 1800. [58] _Floræ Columbiæ specimina selecta_, i. p. 21: Berlin, 1858. A superbly illustrated work by Dr. Karsten. [59] _Die medicinischen Chinarinden Neu-Granadas_, von H. Karsten: Berlin, 1858. I have had this pamphlet translated for the use of those intrusted with, or interested in, the chinchona cultivation in India and Ceylon. It contains a great deal of valuable information respecting the most favourable situations for the production of alkaloids in chinchona barks, and other particulars respecting the growth of the bark, and the methods of collecting it. Dr. Karsten is a careful observer and a scientific botanist and chemist, and his observations form a very important addition to our knowledge of this subject. [60] _Report of the Administrador Don Ignacio Cavero, Semanario_, p. 183. [61] 300 dried specimens, and 242 coloured drawings, sent in the ship 'Buen Consejo.' [62] Namely:--